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Why doesn't every libertarian sign up for the Free State Project? For some, deep local connections to family or friends make it difficult or undesirable to move, and I don't wish to see them uprooted: society trumps politics every time. But for many, the issue is being unable to promise confidently to move to New Hampshire within six or seven years. This short essay is for these people.

The Free State Project's Statement of Intent isn't a promise. It begins, "I hereby state my solemn intent to move to the state of New Hampshire." What does "solemn intent" mean? Let's look at the word "intent" first.

In normal usage, "intend" and "intent" convey something weaker than a promise. "I intended to go, but something came up." Here, the speaker isn't admitting to breaking a promise; instead, he's simply noting that he meant to pursue a particular course of action, but unforeseen circumstances changed his mind. When you intend to do something, you admit it might not be possible, but you think it will be. More...

"This is the thing, ultimately, that seems to bring people to the Free State Project. They become libertarians because they hate taxes, or fear a police state, or distrust collusion between the state and corporate power. But they move to New Hampshire because they want, more than any of these things, to build something new together."
Read Livia Gershon's full take on the Free State Project at Aeon Magazine.

While the size of the New Hampshire labor market increases month after month, the unemployment rate continues to fall. While the US unemployment rate remains stagnant at 6.7%, there is a clear trend developing in New Hampshire. Jobs, job and more jobs! New Hampshire continues to have the 2nd lowest unemployment rate in the East. The only Eastern state with a lower unemployment rate is Vermont at 3.4%. The unemployment rate is 5.9% in Maine and 6.3% in Massachusetts, the only other states that border New Hampshire. See more detailed New Hampshire employment data at New Hampshire Freedom. More...

Movoto Real Estate recently published a report about the best places to live in New Hampshire.

"Who has great maple syrup and even greater seafood? Who has purple lupine in bloom every spring and a blanket of snow on the ground for skiing every winter? Who knew that the very first place to declare independence from England all those years ago would still be such a happening place today? If you haven’t figured out who we’re talking about yet, here’s a spoiler: it’s the great state of New Hampshire." See their top ranked spots...

...Where else has this prickly but adorable creature been used as a symbol? Well, as early as 1394, Louis I, Duke of Orléans established the chivalric Order of the Porcupine, proclaiming himself Grand Master and bestowing this honor upon loyal knights who would wear “a tortil of three gold chains, at the end of which a gold porcupine hung on a green-enamelled flowered terrace”. The motto of the order was « Cominus et eminus » (“From close and from far”). Kind of like Porcupines in New Hampshire!!

Meanwhile, across the Channel, a blue porcupine was used as the heraldic symbol of the Sidney family. Sir Philip Sidney, poet and soldier of Penshurst in Kent, inherited the Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick, and placed his mark above its doors. Note that the hospital is not actually a medical establishment; the word “hospital” is used in the medieval sense of a charitable institution for the old and infirm. This establishment has served as a retirement home for ex-servicemen for centuries.... read more at Sovereign Sandy

From The New Yorker: "By 2011, the brothers had heard about Bitcoin, the digital currency produced through a computerized process called 'mining,' known for its ability to facilitate anonymous online transactions. Bitcoins are generally unregulated, a fact that appealed to the Harveys, who were fed up with the government’s role in their business. They began accepting bitcoins at their store. In December, 2011, they decided to move to the United States. They settled in New Hampshire, a popular destination for Bitcoin-loving advocates of small government." Read more...

...I had visited a “sugar shack”, as they’re called, once before several years ago, but I was particularly excited about this event because it advertised “Maple chili, hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy and Biscuits with Maple butter”. I swore to myself that, to honor the cultural traditions of my adopted Yankee home, I would eat ALL THE THINGS.

This particular sugar shack is actually on my own block, if you can call the long, winding, rutted, frost-heaved (and that’s just the paved parts) series of roads I had to traverse through the rustic town of Twin Peaks to get to it “circling the block”. But basically, if I just took every right turn, I did get there, and afterwards wound up back at my own driveway, so… it was around the block. On the way there, I stopped at the country store on the corner and bought some local raw milk and local fresh eggs. After almost ten years in New Hampshire, it still blows my mind that this is my life now. I mean that in a good way. :-) ...

The crew at 101 Reasons: Liberty Lives in New Hampshire have successfully raised $5,000 for their Indiegogo campaign--4 days early. This is testament to the community's commitment to get this documentary done. Kudos all round!
Enjoy this promo video where early movers and FSP supporters talk about why liberty lovers should be flocking to New Hampshire as part of the Free State Project. Join the most exciting, effective mass migration movement for more liberty in the world.
Curious to learn more? Attend the Porcupine Freedom Festival, June 22-29, 2014 in Lancaster, NH. Buy your tickets today.

I browsed the Internet and filed away stories of nanobreweries and porcupine quill crowns, and stumbled into a Facebook group dedicated to the Liberty Forum. The most noticeable pattern in the Facebook posts was the amount of people driving in from out of town. Several conference attendees were driving in from South Carolina, Michigan and other locations outside of New Hampshire. Others were members of the press, with requests being posted for Ben Swann’s journalists who would need a ride from Logan Airport.

According to New Hampshire Employment Security, New Hampshire's unemployment rate is now below 5%. The January 2014 unemployment rate is 4.9%. For months now, New Hampshire has had the 2nd lowest unemployment rate in the East. The only Eastern state with an unemployment rate lower than New Hampshire is border state Vermont, which scores low on liberty metrics. See more detailed New Hampshire employment data at New Hampshire Freedom.

Looking for a job in New Hampshire? There are lots of helpful resources linked to in the Free State Project Forum. Specifically, this post. Check out the upcoming New Hampshire job fairs. If you are on Facebook, consider joining the FSP Job Alert page, for job listings and general support from the Porcupine community. Happy hunting!

Do you think of yourself as a voluntarist, anarchist or libertarian? If you do, chances are you attended last week’s 2014 New Hampshire Liberty Forum in Nashua. Blockchain was proud to be the Rearden sponsor of the event this year, where nearly 500 people attended to mingle, learn more about freedom and why it is so important to ask questions. Read more at Blockchain...

Liberty Forum. Record ticket sales. VIP tickets work well; expenses matched revenues; Discovery Channel, New Yorker, and other media channels were here. We also had favorable local press. We invited speakers outside the traditional liberty circles, reaching into other demographics, and it was very well received. A tweet-up started the conference, and people were tweeting throughout the Forum. The conference organization team was great. People liked the magazine-style program. There were a lot of first time people attending. Attendees will be asked for feedback via an online survey. We don’t have final numbers for attendance yet, but one good indication was that the parking lot was sometimes full. In order to grow the conference, we’re exploring alternatives for next year. More...

In the dark months of winter, when the moon casts its light on canescent mounds of snow, the latter become fields of icy, glowing gems, riches to behold for the eyes of the careful observer. The angle must be just so to reap the rewards of this natural sacrament. This heightens the transcendence of the moment – the moment we realize that treasures surround us.

One must be observant to glimpse the majesty of nature. So too, the intrepid searcher of hidden restaurant treasures must be equally observant to find the amazing gastronomical gems that can be found in surprising places in New Hampshire. The Crystal Quail is one such gem. More...

Carolyn A was introduced to the Free State Project in 2010 when she attended her first PorcFest. She became a frequent visitor to New Hampshire, and finally made the move in June 2013. As Transportation Coordinator for Liberty Forum, she is responsible for arranging flights and safe and timely ground transportation for our speakers. This includes communicating any delays and reworking the schedule as necessary. If you are a speaker, and you made it to Liberty Forum, it’s thanks to Carolyn. If you didn’t, it’s on Mother Nature!

It's time to get more signers! Thanks to a generous Free State Project supporter, $5 will be donated to the FSP for every verified signer we get between now and the end of Liberty Forum.
If you have not signed the pledge yet, now is the time to do so! You know the FSP is your best chance of Liberty in Our Lifetime. We are the largest, most successful, voluntary mass migration liberty movement in the world. No more excuses, this is HAPPENING. Be part of history.
If you have already signed up as a participant, what about your liberty-loving friends? Take the time to reach out personally to someone about the FSP today. What about your significant other? In some cases, only one spouse signed the pledge. Ask your partner to sign up too. How about your children who have turned 18 and who love the FSP? Get them to pledge as well. We have also discovered that some eager-beavers are moving without pledging. We are happy you are here, but please make the counter move. Every signer counts.
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Liberty Forum is fast approaching. Now in its 7th year, with the theme "Watching the Watchers," Liberty Forum is set to be the biggest and best one yet.
One thing that differentiates the Free State Project’s annual events from other liberty conferences is that we are focused on doing, acting, producing, changing. We don’t just talk about the problems; we work to fix them.
One way to do this is to make fun of the state. And boy, did FSP participant Dan McCall do just that. The owner of Liberty Maniacs made a t-shirt bearing the NSA logo, modified to read "peeping while you're sleeping,” with the slogan "NSA: the only part of the government that actually listens."
The NSA was not amused. They contacted the distributor demanding the product be removed from Zazzle’s site, saying, “Your product contained content which infringes upon the intellectual property rights of National Security Agency.”
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Several months ago my friend and Free State Project compatriot Jenn Coffey let the word out that she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer. She has bravely been blogging about the experience ever since. Although it has been painful and depressing to read, it has been educational for me; I really had no idea what a time-consuming, frustrating pain in the ass it is to get treated for cancer! It seems particularly ironic, in a haha-you’re-really-NOT-being-funny-universe kind of way that Jenn, of all people, has been sidelined with a life-threatening medical condition, because she is one of those seemingly larger-than-life individuals who seems to cram three times as much life into the allotted timeframe than the rest of us...
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Among those focused on the principles of liberty, those passionate about changing the world, there is always debate. One topic that gets less attention is welfare. Most of us, if not all, tend to agree that charity is best given voluntarily, and we usually agree that the funding method the state uses--taxation--is immoral, if not outright violent. Usually the discussion ends there, and we sit back, self-satisfied. Taxation is theft, end of story. Now the world will get better, right? What commonly happens next is we are called cruel, Darwinist, unloving, uncharitable. We are accused of not caring about the needy, of wanting the poor/disabled/drug-addicted to die so we will finally have time to roll around in our giant piles of money, laughing maniacally. More...